The Investor’s Manifesto
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
Love Michael Lewis, he does a great job of explaining what happened during the 2008 financial meltdown, and introducing you to some of the most odd financial wizards that actually made money off the housing collapse because they saw what was going on and bet against it.
No One Would Listen: A True Financial Thriller
An interesting tale of how Madoff’s Ponzi scheme evolved, and the SEC refused to investigate, told from the perspective of a frustrated investigator. Not a 5 star book, the author is a little too arrogant and long winded.
I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay
British take on the recent housing collapse. Not as good as the Big Short, but I liked it for its more global, non-US outlook.
SuperFreakonomics
How Full Is Your Bucket? : Positive Strategies for Work and Life
This is meant as a follow-on to First, Break all the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. It isn’t in the same league. Mostly this book is an eulogy! I would put it low on your list. The premise is not new – if you emotionally berate employees, they will loose their will to work. Retention rates are tied to employee emotional health – really, I’m shocked? It isn’t until the last chapter that some real advice is given. This book could have had so much more depth, or been 75% shorter.
Spend ’til The End
I had been reading Scott Burns posts on financial investing and came across a reference to his book. This book just wowed me with the concept of income leveling. The idea is to have a constant standard of living throughout your lifetime. That is, spend to the end. Our biggest obstacle to this goal? We cannot borrow enough while we are young.
My favorite chapter – Scott analyzes the fortunes of a woman and her jobless surfer boyfriend. (A sexist turnabout.) Also interesting is the analysis that there is a U in the plot of standard of living vs. income. How? Government subsidies phase out faster than income rises. What’s the worst income to be at you ask? You will have to read the book!
A must read, even if you don’t buy into the whole income leveling concept.
Enough: True Measures of Money, Business, and Life
Emotional Intelligence / Working with Emotional Intelligence / Primal Leadership
I have been reading the books backwards (newest to oldest). Each holds some gems inside lots of fluff. Goleman’s premise is emotional competencies (listening, empathy, etc.) form a separate category of intelligence. I can agree with that. Unfortunately, this has become a business franchise for him, so I think he takes it too far. He asserts it is THE defining intelligence of star performers. I can agree they are neglected, and are of prime importance to leaders. However, in light of Marcus Buckingham’s books, I think that Goleman is trying to fit all the characteristics of star performers into an emotional intelligence frame work. To a significant degree that is putting square pegs into a round hole. The thesis is easy to swallow at first, as the book is written in the standard business best-seller sensational journalist format. This contrasts with Buckingham; he writes in a pragmatic, self-help format. That said, we have a lot of work to do on our emotional intelligence. I would recommend reading Primal Leadership of the three as it discusses the types of leadership problems I have seen at work over, and over again.